


I hear the walls repeating

by the_law_of_progress



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Gen, The Final Problem, but just an fyi he's there, he's got literally one line, moriarty also technically appears but I'm not tagging him, mostly he's there to be menacing and die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 17:55:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21677725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_law_of_progress/pseuds/the_law_of_progress
Summary: Watson, on his descent back into Meiringen from the falls of Reichenbach, realizes that this has all happened before...
Kudos: 8





	I hear the walls repeating

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to my tumblr. Many, many thanks to queenoferebor for proofing and letting me throw titles at you!!  
All mistakes are mine.
> 
> Title from Hadestown "Wait for Me II"  
Italics is Watson POV  
Bold is Holmes POV

_I noted him, and the energy with which he walked, and thought that I might have seen him before, somewhere. Perhaps we had seen him in town. I spared him this second thought, but he passed from my mind again as I hurried on upon my errand. _

**The water rushing in the background hid the sound of his footsteps, but I saw his dark coat before long. I stood there, face to face with my adversary for the second and last time. **

_I glanced at the note again, thinking of supplies that could be used to ease the woman’s suffering, but my eye caught something different. Though Holmes had footed the bill for our hotel rooms, I had looked over the receipt our good landlord had written. His s’s were quite Swiss, very unlike this letter, and I thought it odd that his writing did not match the note. _

**“May I write a note, then? A few final words for Doctor Watson?” Though he tried to restrain it, I watched his grim face let a smile small cross his lips. I had inadvertently paid him a compliment, suggesting that I might not survive our encounter. However, I had tried to be a pragmatic man and leaving Watson a letter should the worst happen was the most pragmatic- if sentimental- thing to do. **

_I froze_. 

**Then again, I am a rather sentimental man, too.**

_The letters didn’t match. I had seen them before. _

**My pen gently scratched against the paper, a sound I couldn’t hear over the half-human cry of the water. **

_I rushed back up the mountainside. I had seen him before._

**I had the strangest feeling that I had written this letter before.**

_I had lived this before._

**I carefully tore the three pages from my notebook and, after setting them on a convenient nook in the rockface, lay my silver cigarette-case on top of them.**

_He had died here before._

**I lay my alpenstock against the wall, marking the spot where the note lay, should Watson return to look for me.**

_I would not be too late, not this time._

**I nodded to my adversary.**

_Nearly out of breath, I heard the rush of waters getting louder and louder, though I could not see them, until I finally reached the muddy cliff-side where I had left Holmes. _

**My adversary looked behind me. **

_I saw the black figure- the man who had hunted us across the continent- look back at me. _

**I cautiously turned.**

_I saw him look back at me. _

**I looked back at him.**

_His eyes caught mine, obviously shocked that I had come back so soon._

**But why had he come back now? It was too soon! This… this hadn’t happened… _before_.**

_I watched as he finally began to realize that this had happened before. I smiled._

**That was when I heard the shot.**

** **

_That was when I felt the shot._

**“Watson!”**

_Holmes. I’m sorry…_

**I watched him fall. **

_I felt my feet give out._

**I rushed towards him.**

_I felt him cradle me in his arms._

**I held him tightly, trying to say something, anything. **

_I felt numb. This hadn’t happened before._

**This hadn’t happened before!**

_I smile at him._

**He smiled at me.**

_I held his gaze, as my eyesight failed me._

**Light left his eyes. I felt him go still. I began to shake. Behind me, the voice that had taken him from me, say, “Well, I suppose you won’t need that note after all.”**

**I acted without thought. The rush of broken water greeted me, as I hurled myself upon that villain. He lurched back in surprise, but took hold of me, grappling at my arms. Locked in each other’s arms, we reeled over the side of the cliff. I saw one last glance of my dear Watson before my head struck a rock, and there was nothing but darkness and the rush of the waterfall. **

**Author's Note:**

> ...to be continued...?


End file.
